


The Keystone

by Night_Queen3927



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Reaction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-07 23:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20825504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_Queen3927/pseuds/Night_Queen3927
Summary: The ripple effect is evident in all actions. This explores the reactions of those surrounding Obi-wan immediately after they receive bad news.





	The Keystone

**Author's Note:**

> Today is my birthday so I wrote something that brought some pleasure to my cold, black heart and soul. 
> 
> If I owned Star Wars, I would just live in a library and not work. Seeing as I don't live in a library and I work, it's fairly safe to say that I don't own Star Wars.

_In architecture, there is a special stone known as the keystone. When an architect is creating an arch of stone, they don’t cement the stones together, instead they carefully cut and craft each block so that they fit together perfectly into an arch shape. At the end, when all of the blocks are placed, the keystone is fitted into the top, bearing all the weight of the other stones and keeping them in place. Sometimes, people also serve as a keystone, which them in a group, the group becomes stronger and won’t fall apart, but if they are removed, the group dissolves into bickering and collapses._

Obi-wan Kenobi. He linked so many people together and served as a keystone for all of them. 

Grand-padawan of Count Dooku. He served as a reminder of Qui-gon Jinn, and kept Dooku from being able to completely sever ties with the Light.

Great-grand-padawan of Yoda. He reminded Yoda of all the good that he had done and passed down his lineage

Master to Anakin Skywalker. He supported Anakin to his journey of Knighthood, and keeping him stabilized through the trials of the war. 

Grand-master to Ahsoka Tano. He acted as a counter to Anakin, passing on logic to counterbalance the impulsiveness that Anakin taught.

Rival to Asajj Ventress. He was one of the few that could go head to head with her as well as beat her.

Master on the Jedi Council. He served as an opposing voice, ensuring that all sides were thought through.

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

_A keystone by necessity, is one of the strongest stones in the arch. Stones are carefully inspected for any flaws that could lead to them breaking under the pressure of the other stones in the arch and then one stone is selected for its lack of flaws that could widen and break the stone. When a keystone is removed or broken, the arch collapses from the lack of support._

One day, Obi-wan received a com from a ship full of stranded younglings. They were coming back from picking out their kyber crystals for their own lightsabers when they were ambushed and separated from Ahsoka who was watching over them.

He promised that he would come to their rescue, refusing to allow pirates or other unsavoury sentients to kidnap them and sell them into slavery.

He was in turn ambushed by General Grievous, all four arms whirling and all four fists clenching ignited lightsabers to create a deadly glowing whirly top.

Obi-wan was one of the best masters of the Soresu and Shien styles of lightsaber combat. He specialized in precise strikes and could maintain his defense for longer than his opponent, waiting until they slipped up and he could pounce. But that day, Obi-wan was still recovering from a blaster hit to his thigh, his muscles were still shaky.

One wrong foot, and Obi-wan slipped, his leg giving out underneath him. He crashed to the ground, lightsaber automatically brought over his chest to shield him.

Grievous took the chance that opened when Obi-wan fell. He sliced at Obi-wan in different areas with his stolen lightsabers, knowing that Obi-wan couldn’t block all of them. One got through Obi-wan’s defense, slicing off his right hand, simultaneously disarming him of his lightsaber.

Grievous laughed, deep and foreboding, as he plunged one of his pilfered lightsabers down, straight through the strong heart belonging to Obi-wan Kenobi.

Obi-wan died with a green lightsaber pierced through his heart, eyes defiant to the end.

_The Keystone broke._

General Grievous returned to Count Dooku, Obi-wan’s lightsaber dangling from his belt. When General Grievous reported his successful slaughter of Obi-wan Kenobi, offering his lightsaber for inspection, to Count Dooku, he expected to be praised for it and given more slaughter. 

Dooku snapped, his eyes became gold and didn’t change back to his typical brown eyes. Voice choked with tears and anger, Dooku said, “How dare you! I ordered that he was to be left alive!”. With a visceral snarl, Dooku beheaded the cyborg, using the Force to yank Obi-wan’s lightsaber off of Grievous’ belt. At the same time that Grievous’ head hit the floor, Dooku’s knees hit the ground, tears leaking from his golden eyes. 

“I’m sorry, Qui-gon. I failed you.”

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

Yoda stiffened in the middle of the creche where he was telling stories to the younglings. With a voice that had almost no detectable quaver to the ear except for someone who had known him for a long time, he excused himself. Grabbing his cane, he hobbled out of the creche, a tight grip on his emotions until he reached his room. 

As soon as the door closed and locked behind him, Yoda let go of his stick and collapsed to the ground in sorrow. His eyes closed and his ears drooped downwards. A singular tear forced its way out of his eye.

“The last of my line. The last that remembered me as a member of their lineage and not as the grandmaster of the Jedi Order.” Yoda mourned. He had lost the last of his immediate family. The rest of the order was family but distant family, ones that revered him.

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

Anakin was with Ahsoka, discussing the next action that they had to take in the war, when he suddenly collapsed like a puppet that had its strings cut. A blood-curdling scream emitted from his mouth, and his eyes rolled back into his head.

“MASTER!!” Ahsoka cried, dropping to her knees to drag Anakin’s body into her lap so that his head wouldn’t be injured as he thrashed around, howling in agony. “What happened?!”

“Obi-wan” Anakin choked out between screams. “Our bond. It broke.” Tears leaked from his eyes. He let out a keen of distress, and curled up into a ball.

“Master Obi-wan?” Ahsoka’s voice was quavery. “Is he okay?”

“No, Snips.” Anakin moaned, curling into a fetal position. “He’s dead.” Ugly sobs broke from his chest, and tears flowed down his cheeks.

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

Asajj Ventress was on the prowl, looking for her next target that would make her money. Suddenly, a ripple ran through the Force, forcing her to break her smooth stride and stumble momentarily. She recovered quickly, but her mind was no longer on the hunt. It had transitioned to the event that had caused such a reaction in the Force. Suddenly an image came to her, something that she never could have dreamt up in her wildest dreams(or nightmares in this case). 

Obi-wan Kenobi sprawled on a steel floor, limbs akimbo, eyes wide open and glazed over. A hole burnt through his chest, destroying his heart. A trickle of blood traced a path of blood down his chin. His lightsaber was nowhere to be seen.

Asajj hissed out a breath, sorrow and anger warring in her breast. She hated the fact that Obi-wan was dead, that she would never be able to battle him again, never trade barbs and quips. She raged at the fact that she wasn’t the one who bested him in the end, that she couldn’t prove once and for all that she was the superior fighter and Force User.

~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_

“Died Obi-wan Kenobi has. Fallen during battle with Grievous.” With that short announcement by Yoda in front of the Jedi Council, pandemonium broke out. Every master was shouting, demanding clarification, demanding details, denying that it happened, begging Yoda to say that he was wrong.

Mace was the first one to fall silent, his eyes thoughtful and quiet. He knew that Yoda would never say anything about Obi-wan that was false, that he had a soft spot for Obi-wan wider than his soft spot for the younglings. Closing his eyes, Mace reached out for the Shatterpoints surrounding Obi-wan. Yesterday there was thousands of Shatterpoints that hinged on every move that Obi-wan made but today there were none. 

“Yoda speaks true.” Corroborating the statement that Yoda gave, Mace regretted the words that he spoke as well as the need for them. 

With that simple statement, 3 words, 3 syllables with the impact of an anchor on a ship, the council fell silent. And they broke, unable to fathom the concept of the Negotiator not being there to advocate for different policies, ones that supported all these different branches of the Jedi.

_There is some truth to the saying that a single action, no matter how big or small, can cause an enormous impact on the world and the people in the world. A single shattered keystone can lead to a collapsed building, and the death of one person will send ripples throughout the world._

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this. I just wrote all this today, and I don't really want to go back over everything with a fine-toothed comb. If it doesn't match with canon, then *author waves their magic wand of author-ship* it works now.
> 
> Tell me if I screwed up formatting/editing/spelling/grammar/everything else. I promise, I'm nice and don't bite if I'm told that I messed up.


End file.
